Wife, mother of two, recovering Diet Pepsi addict and collector of OPI nailpolish....oh, and I really do want world peace.

Wednesday, August 31, 2016

Something Vexes Thee?

When Queen B got cut from the volleyball team her Senior year, I thought I would never get over the disgust that I felt for the coach who cut her. I was right about that. I also thought that I would never feel that level of disappointment in a coach again, but, unfortunately, it appears that I was wrong about that.

A little back story: Last year, the Booster Club President Extraordinaire and I approached the football coach about the possibility of hanging senior banners at the football field this year. The coach explained to us that he was not in favor of singling out the seniors for recognition because he coached a team, not individuals, so, he would not allow banners on "his" field. We accepted that and asked if he would have an issue with us hanging them elsewhere, to which he replied that he would have no control over that.

Ok.

Flash forward to earlier this summer, when the coach expressed to us his desire to have the community get more involved in supporting the football team; would there be anything that the Boosters could do to encourage that?

Sure.

So, as I mentioned here in a recent post, we brainstormed a "marketing plan", if you will, to provide ways for the downtown businesses to advertise and promote home games. In addition to the posters that we were to have made, we would also do the senior banners and hang them in the front window of the hardware store on game days, creating awareness and pride. It was a win-win, the coach got his community exposure, the parents of the seniors got their banners, and, the Boosters got the use of the banners at the Senior Sports Banquet in the spring.

Not so fast.

This evening, after the boys finished with practice, we had scheduled a local photographer to take the pictures for the banners. We had confirmation from the senior parents that they were willing to pay for the banners, and we had ordered the spirit posters that would be distributed to the downtown merchants, along with a schedule of the games. The campaign was set to kick off next Friday, the day of our first home game.

Again, not so fast.

Instead of pictures, we got calls from our sons, telling us that the coach had forbidden them to have banners.

Que the calls between furious football moms.

When the dust settled, we agreed that it would serve no purpose to defy the coach; he would just take it out on the boys. We also agreed that it was no longer in our best interest to waste time on encouraging community support on his behalf. So, the Hoist the Colors Campaign will be set on the back burner...until basketball season.

We are disappointed, but we are not defeated.

We will support our boys from the bleachers, just like we always have. We will host team dinners and decorate lockers and glue glitter onto posteboard footballs, just like we always have. And, life will go on.

Then, next year, when there are no Senior moms to take our place (there are only two Juniors on the team this year; one of them isn't sure he wants to play again next year and one of them has a mom who refuses to get involved), the coach can figure out his own team dinners, fundraising, and volunteer workforce.